Tuesday, July 24, 2012

The Bad Guys: Apocalypse Pharmaka (Part 2) - Rune Soup

In fact, it is more than 100 times more effective than antibiotics commonly used to treat one of food poisoning?s leading causes.

Kinda wish I knew this in New Zealand when I lived there because, at the time, it had the highest rate of salmonella poisoning in the first world.

My estimate is that I was food poisoned once every three months. The garlic hack woulda been good to have.

Do you have some suspicions as to why I didn?t know it?

One evening in Micronesia, while drinking duty free gin on the balcony after a day spent making a terrible documentary about Nan Madol, my psychiatrist father told me something interesting about the medical business. The numbers may change but the journey remains the same:

It takes about half a billion to bring a drug from its natural state in the rainforest, through testing, through governmental approval, through clinical trials and out onto the market. That investment must be made back up in the five years that the drug is under patent because after that all profitability is eroded by the appearance of off-brand alternatives.

The nicest way of describing this would be to say that a company has to spend five years healing the rich before its lifesaving treatments can be of any use to the rest of us. A more accurate way may be to simply ask for directions to the nearest socialist party office and I?m terribly sorry but do you happen to have a spare guillotine?

I would hang these in my house if I was sure they wouldn?t give me nightmares.

Because, unfortunately, it is not just a matter of bringing new medications onto the market.

What if some existing medications prevent lung damage from cigarette smoke?

Do you think they have the funding to sponsor medical events and take large hospital buyers and successful oncologists out to expensive dinners?

And what if a near-universal cancer vaccine was developed? One that couldn?t be patented.

Do you think every medical facility in the world would work around the clock to test, synthesise and distribute this product?

Or rather would you expect a flimsy take-down piece that gets upset over the fact that whoever wrote the press release doesn?t have a detailed understanding of cell biology? There is a huge difference between an absence of clinical trials and flat-out lying, but this Archon-shill doesn?t appear to give a shit. Guess no one in his family has cancer at the moment, huh?

Thing is? someone in my family does/did. At the beginning of last year, my father was actually diagnosed with (colon) cancer. It was caught early so it was small, it was surgically removed and the follow-ups have been fine so far.

He does, however, drink mate tea every day now because it appears to?kill colon cancer. Let?s be clear here? he?s the orthodoxy?s orthdoxy. Not to get all Tom Cruise at you (because I?m out of the closet) but he?s a?psychiatrist. That?s totally the archonic equivalent of the inquisition.

And yet he didn?t wait for the thumbs up from some asshole crying about a press release to begin using a health product mankind has been using for centuries. He?s not paying a drug company for a pill derived from a compound in the mate plant because that doesn?t exist yet. He?s drinking the frikking tea.?

Good.

The whole point of apocalypse pharmaka is that we no longer (only) have to listen to plant spirits to guide us toward treatment. We can instantly summon from any corner of the planet the latest understanding of treatments for our afflictions. We don?t necessarily need to act on it but we should still be summoning up the options. The only thing stopping us is fear.

But cancer is scarier than a fear of transgressing ?the way things are done?. So my father is going to keep drinking the tea.

And here?s a cancer hack for you right now:

If you are over 35, you should think about taking a daily dose of aspirin.

Sometimes I think I will see this if I look up when I?m walking through central London on my way to work.

Daily aspirin is considered a ?no brainer? by doctors who aren?t in Big Pharma?s pockets.

The only response that ?cautious doctors? (check their backgrounds) have is that aspirin, over a very long period of time, can increase the likelihood of internal bleeding in patients with pre-existing conditions.

But if you?re over 35, what are you more likely to die of? So split the difference and pop those pills.

For the first time in human history we have the access to knowledge to more easily make these decisions for ourselves. Which is good because Big Pharma is fucking out of control. Overmedication is what?s killing us:

?So many people have died from medication overdoses of late that they come to exceed car crashes as the US?s top cause of accidental death ? a first since the government started tabulating such data in 1979, according to the LA Times. This equates to ?more deaths than heroin and cocaine combined?.

And aspirin is a medication in the same way that two eggs are a cake. It?s basically one step above willow tree bark tea. I may change my opinion of this should gas-filled aspirin become widely available because it it thousands of times more effective. But again, you can?t patent it so, basically, if you live anywhere that isn?t Sweden then don?t hold your breath.

Our current drug policy is more damaging than Bush II?s moronic stance on stem cells. The food we are eating is causing autism in our kids. Evil men are determining your country?s health policy and it is time you personally limited their influence on how you choose to live your life.

Speaking of? It?s the food thing I want to leave you with for two reasons.

The first is that if you are reading this within a few days of when it is posted then I will be stuffing my goddamn face in Paris again (death by croissants!) lest I give you the impression I am coming off as preachy.

The second reason is that food where we are going with the next post in the series. But between now and then you have some homework. You have to watch the recent BBC programme,?The Men Who Made Us Fat. As a proud, card-carrying BBC license-fee payer, consider this my gift to you.

If you ever wanted to put names to the men who destroyed the health of the entire first world then watch it.

[Disclaimer: This blog mentions ghosts, wizards, aliens, Atlantis, spells and fortune telling. If you consider any of that to constitute medical advice then you need to have a good, long look at how you are living your life.]